Features Early 50's 4 door customs...

Not early 50s but custom and 4 door none-the-less. Here's my old 58

 

I soo badly WANT to LIKE them (for the sake of the hobby if anything), but.......................

I just don't.

 

I think the 1st version (like most of the early kustoms) was fantastic!! When you consider this car was finished the 1st time in 1952 in a lime-gold green it was way ahead of its time. That being said it did not get better with the new alterations

 

didnt work

 

I have 52 ford customline fordor and I always tell my friends with 4 doors you get more whores. HAHAHA

 

Not all the rodders back then could afford to start with a 'desirable' car, but worked with what they had. Yeah, some turned out butt-ugly but some were pretty cool.

One of my favorites (in a early-60s little pages R&C IIRC) was a '55 Ford 4-door wagon with rolled pans, frenched Merc wagon taillights, Corvette grill in a fabricated opening, Lancer 'caps, and a 'carson top' treatment over the roof/rearmost windows. Had a kind of 'custom surf wagon' vibe. The details are fuzzy, but that's the gist...

 

I had a 50 Ford Kustom 4 door and I always loved it when old guys would say that nobody drove 4 doors in the 50's and 60's but sure seems like there was a bunch of them in the little books for nobody wanting them. My great uncle was a Kustom guy in the early to mid 50's and I remember him telling me they prefered to Kustomize 4 doors because it was easier to get their friends and the ladies in once you chopped the top and everyone always wanted to take the Kustoms out because they could pick up more girls in them. So what I took from that was they parked the two doors and cruised the more door. HA! I love it! Dare to be different and don't get ripped off when you buy a car by paying full price and only getting half the doors.

 

In the 1952-59 Ford Social group we have a fair amount of 4 door owners,several posts have come up where they are adapting rear seat belts for the little ones car seats.The family guys that love our hobby sometimes work on a limited budget and these four door cars fill that niche and a practical purpose as well.Keeping them alive and out of the crusher is a good deal all around,recently the demand for the long roofs is on the increase.Build what you love,love what you build!

 

In 1955, Phil Macchiarella's chopped Plymouth 'project' was featured in the 'Little Pages'.
A San Jose car, my 2 buds and self got to examine it at the old San Jose drag strip, "Little Bonneville".
Phil was there spectating, the Plymouth was painted a gold 'undercoating'...(Phil said it was a special primer, as they had welded the top and doors, then finished it with the new product, "Fiberglass".)
We were drawn to the car, partially because it was a 4-door...(my friend Pat had a '39 Ford 4-door, and was chopping the top 4-1/2")
We were 13 at the time, and the idea of a chopped 4-door made it all the wilder.
Pat used this new fiberglass cloth-and-resin to fair in the top of the '39...and it worked.

Conventional thinking at the time was that 4-doors were 'old men's cars', but Phil's Plymouth and Dick Benzavino's chopped '48 Ford Fordor ("The Gopher") changed our tunes...

 

I talk to Lenny Macchiarella on facebook sometimes, he was Phil's brother. He is still proud of the Plymouth and loves to talk about the old days.

 

For the ones who like the Grecian I thank it is still around the Dayton Ohio area . I saw it a few years back at local cruse in .

 

Yep. Amazing the power of revisionist history ain't it? One group of people start repeating something and then use it to convince all those that are too lazy to look and form an opinion on their own.

 

When and what happened to it?

 

I have two 4 door 50 chevys. I am converting one of them to a two door with a chop, but I am leaving this one with 4 doors and a standard roof line.

I would love a two door sedan or fleetline but unfortonatley in Australia we only got the four door sedans, and I cant afford to ship one over from USA.

You gotta work with what you've got I guess..

 

Looks good!

 

This is my new background!!! TOTAL inspiration. What sort of drop is this?

 

Here is a pic of my mildly customized 51 more door.

 

Great thread!.. my (photoshopped) sled below.. hope to make it like this soon.

 

Perhaps to warn people it was coming, so they could avert thier eyes??

 

very cool

 

It might be time for somebody to bitch about The Grecian,its a great thread ender, lol.

 

It has fatman uprights with 1.5 coils cut and a de-arched springs with 2" blocks and air shocks.

 

Man, that looks really right. And I'm a closet four door hater

 

Your right JeffB2. We brought our newborn daughter home from the hospital six months ago in my wife's 52 ford four door. I installed seat belts and a car seat in the back. How many kids of her generation will be able to say their first ride was in a 52.

 

My last post was in response to this post.

 

I like 4 doors, but I wouldn't piss on the Grecian if it was on fire!!

 

I've seen a lot of rad four doors and I've seen a lot of fucking awful two doors....

Life must get boring when you only like one flavor of ice cream.

There are some great looking cars in this thread....makes me want to chop up a more door next.

 

I'm a 2dr guy myself.but I recently picked up a new project..a 55 Buick century hardtop. The lines are killer, number of doors be damned. My opinion is swaying

Sent from my DROID RAZR HD using Tapatalk 2

 

i dont discriminate, I dig em all.. when done right (to my personal liking) haha.. Just acquired a 52 buick 3 days ago, she still has all 4 of her doors.